Annual Report Fiscal Year 2017/2018
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ANNUAL REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2017/2018 1 MISSION San Francisco Art Institute is dedicated to the intrinsic value of art and its vital role in shaping and enriching society and Left: the individual. As a diverse community Installation view of the BFA Exhibition, of working artists and scholars, SFAI Diego Rivera Gallery, 2018. provides its students with a rigorous Photo by Alex education in the fine arts and preparation Peterson (BFA Photography, 2015). for a life in the arts through an immersive studio environment, an integrated liberal Below: Rigo 23, One Tree arts curriculum, and critical engagement mural. Photo by with the world. Trevor Hacker. Spread:2 Performance by Tim Sullivan’s New Genres class on the rooftop amphitheatre at SFAI—Chestnut Street Campus. CONTENTS 4 FROM THE PRESIDENT 5 FROM THE BOARD CHAIR 6 HISTORY A Brief History of SFAI Firsts + Foremosts 10 NOTABLE ALUMNI 11 FACILITIES Chestnut Street Campus Fort Mason Campus Residence Halls 15 DEGREE PROGRAMS 16 NAMED SCHOLARSHIPS 18 FINANCIALS 19 EXHIBITIONS + PUBLIC PROGRAMS Galleries/Exhibition Spaces Visiting Artists + Scholars Lecture Series Public + Youth Education 22 ANNUAL GIFTS Vernissage 2018 Top to bottom: Students in the fountain at SFAI's Chestnut Street Campus, circa 1972. Photo by Richard Laughlin (MFA 1973). Work by Ahna Fender (BFA Painting) in the SFAI Courtyard. 3 SFAI President Gordon Knox at SFAI's Fort Mason Campus. Photo by Duy Ho. And this is a hard job, since the work of arts education is interwoven with the realities of economic systems, social inequality and political volatility. As SFAI builds on our recent progress, we must ensure that students as well as the institution itself emerge nimble, adaptable and resilient in the face of rapid change. We must work to remove barriers to access in order LETTER FROM to provide promising artists the opportunity to realize an SFAI education and share their unique visions and contributions with the world. We have the ability, and the ethical responsibility, to THE PRESIDENT provide an educational experience grounded in the integrity of artistic practice, social relevance and preparation for a viable means of livelihood. How best to assure this outcome, for the 2017-2018 WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY YEAR FOR SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE, near future and the next generation, is a guiding question of bookended by celebrations, from the art- and confetti-filled opening of our new Fort Mason Campus our current strategic planning process overseen by the Board in Fall 2017 to the inspiring return of alumnus Kehinde Wiley as our Commencement honoree. of Trustees and involving students, faculty, staff, alumni and This was my first full academic year as SFAI’s president, and I have come away from it supporters. understanding even more deeply that SFAI is a truly beloved and important institution, poised It is my honor to lead this institution, surrounded by people to further its position in the vanguard of contemporary arts internationally and at the heart of the who are inspired by the core human values that animate Bay Area’s cultural output. our work and give generously to advance our mission. I am SFAI represents a form of cultural agency that is essential in this place and time in history. Art is wholeheartedly committed to the work ahead and look forward present in every society; it is the way in which we push against the edges of what we know in order to sharing news of future efforts. to better understand ourselves and each other, and then connect with the world around us. We tell stories and create community through the sublime communicative power of art. SFAI has been at the forefront of this pursuit for nearly 150 years, engaging with new ideas and technologies to question With gratitude, assumptions, reveal previously unseen things and captivate people's imaginations in ways that are generative and transformative. Students come to SFAI with a dedication to the deep work required to become artists and scholars, and to grow in a caring and challenging environment rooted in respect for the humanity we share and belief in the role of art in shaping our society. Our job is to educate them as adept agents of social change; to train and support individuals who are compelled to be artists and go on to unleash Gordon Knox their aesthetic and intellectual capacities in a wide range of fields. SFAI President 4 BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFFICERS LETTER FROM Pam Rorke Levy, Chair Elizabeth Ronn, Vice Chair Juana Schurman, Secretary THE BOARD CHAIR Steven J. Spector, Treasurer In the current year, the entire SFAI community is working together on a Strategic Plan to be presented TRUSTEES Donna Abrahamson THIS PAST YEAR WAS THE 147TH YEAR OF ARTS INSTRUCTION in June for approval by the Board of Trustees. We are Agnes Bourne OFFERED AT SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE, and a year of many taking this opportunity to examine the assumptions Rebecca Chou* milestone achievements for our community. that have guided us in the past, and give serious Jonathan Cropper Marcel Houtzager We kicked off the fall 2017 semester welcoming students to our consideration to the needs of our students in a rapidly Chris Lim glorious new Fort Mason campus, 67,000 square feet of light-filled studios, changing world. What is the best way to help each of Tom Loughlin* classrooms, and public galleries. That November our public opening drew our students discover and express their unique artistic Joy Ou Una Ryan more than 4,000 celebrants who marveled at the transformation of Pier 2 from vision? What tools should we be providing them? How Jeremy Stone a single cavernous event space into a best-in-class facility for art-making and do we connect each student with the extraordinary exhibitions. Within weeks of the project’s completion, our architects at Leddy resources and opportunities that abound in the city TRUSTEES-AT-LARGE Maytum Stacy were recognized in glowing reviews that proclaimed the space that surrounds us? How can we do a better job of Don E. Hardy* “… has an unmistakable public, social presence…the confident restoration is a helping students and alumni live happy and productive Annie Leibovitz* Barry J. McGee* triumph.” (SF Chronicle, John King) lives? Brent F. Sikkema* It’s hard to believe that opening weekend was little more than a year ago. These are the questions that will drive our Since opening the Fort Mason campus we’ve staged some 60 exhibitions of discussions, as we commit ourselves once again to TRUSTEES EMERITI student and professional work between the two campuses, often working in delivering the finest arts education in the world. It will Gardiner Hempel partnership with other arts organizations. We’ve hosted more than 30 lectures be our responsibility to decide what that means today, Charles Hobson Bonnie Levinson featuring resident and visiting artists and scholars, and opened our doors to at a time when freedom of speech and expression are Howard Oringer many other Bay Area cultural organizations, who have used our spectacular openly under attack in our country; what it will mean Paul Sack event spaces to celebrate their own landmark occasions, including the Whole in 2021 on SFAI’s 150th anniversary; and what it might John Sanger mean for generations of artists to come. Jack Schafer Earth Catalog’s 50th Anniversary, a 50th anniversary convening for Leonardo/ Roselyne C. Swig The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, and an We cannot do this work without your help. As the Christopher Tellis SFMOMA benefactor event during the FOG Design+Art fair. new Chair of the SFAI Board of Trustees, I invite you This year we burnished our global reputation by expanding and to join us in the vitally important job ahead, supporting FACULTY TRUSTEES strengthening our network of relationships with leading arts organizations the education of artists whose work will define our Mads Lynnerup culture… and our place in history. Cristóbal Martínez around the world. One case in point: our pioneering work with the finest Chinese art schools, led by former President Fred Martin more than 30 years STUDENT TRUSTEES ago, paid dividends as President Gordon Knox returned to China last January Graduate Student Trustee and re-established formal partnerships with the China Academy of Art and Thank you. Kate Rannells Central Academy of Fine Arts. This set the stage for exhibition exchanges Undergraduate Student Trustee and symposia that gather intelligence from the leading edge of arts education Frank Nunez worldwide. In May we were proud to welcome SFAI alumnus Kehinde Wiley (BFA STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES ‘99) back to campus to receive an honorary doctorate, in recognition of an Pam Rorke Levy Graduate Representative extraordinary career that includes Barack Obama’s official presidential portrait. SFAI Board Chair Eliza Mitchell He delivered a commencement address to an audience of students, faculty, Undegraduate Representative staff, and supporters, and sat down for a lively conversation with President Freddie Lopez-Daniel Gordon Knox at the Fort Mason Campus, in front of a packed audience of SFAI supporters. *Alum 5 HISTORY Founded in 1871 by artists, scholars, and community leaders who possessed a cultural vision for the West, SFAI has produced generations of creative leaders who have profoundly shaped the cultural life of the Bay Area, United States, and world. Artists at SFAI have been at the vanguard of the most important art movements of the last century including fine art photography, the Beat movement, Abstract Expressionism, Bay Area Figuration, avant- garde film, conceptualism, video and performance art, and social practice, and continue to advance contemporary art and the role of artists in today’s society. Left: Pre Diego Rivera Gallery, circa 1927.